April 2014 Fitness Check

Last year, God knows how I ate trashy and experienced YOLO hence, I gained a lot; I lost track of hardwork I did trying to show 8 lines along my abdomen. By the time I came back from my Christmas vacation, I already knew that I needed to get back on track. This time, I know what to do, the diet and exercise with some modification because I introduced BCAAs into my supplements apart from the usual protein blend and OEP on the side when needed.

In less than two month, I am going back to the Philippines for a short vacation straight to the white beaches of Boracay and yes, I need to prepare for this. With the time given, I don’t think I can achieve the body I am rooting for. Nevertheless, I’ll look decent, at least in my opinion.

What do you think?

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Losing Your Holiday Pounds

As the holiday season passes thankfully so does the urge to eat all the delicious food on offer. But the turkey, the pies, the candy and the treats all take their toll and before you know it you are letting your belt out to the next notch. The New Year is prime dieting time as we all look to shed these gained pounds but it is often hard for people to stick to their diet plan if they have not thought thoroughly about it in advance. Here are four tips to help you plan and maintain a diet, start losing the pounds and get fit both physically and mentally…

Good nutrition is the basis of any diet

It is tempting when dieting to strip your food intact down to almost nothing in order to see results fast but this is one of the worst mistakes you can make when dieting. Don’t try and skimp on the essentials. You always need the correct amount of vitamins and minerals to keep your body healthy. And yes, you also need the correct amounts of carbohydrates and fats to keep your body functioning normally. Most people forget that restricting the nutrients the body needs can have as drastic effect on the mind as it can on the body. If you don’t get the correct vitamins, minerals, good fats and complex carbohydrates you can become prone to irritability, anxiety and depression – all problems that will ultimately lead you back to the fridge. Keep eating good food and you’ll find dieting easier and the pounds will naturally fall off. If you do find yourself having trouble shedding the pounds it is reasonable to look at weight loss supplements as long as you thoroughly research the effects of these beforehand and talk to your dietitian about using such options.

Vitamins Supplement

Following fads

People often start diets after they read of the latest celebrity craze in newspapers, magazines or online. It’s OK to find diets like this as that initially rush of excitement can help you overcome the first few days of dietary hunger. But beware, only start a particular diet after you have researched it thoroughly, finding both the pros and the cons of the diet and determining whether it is based on sound scientific advice or just anecdote. A recent addition to the diet canon that is based on science is the 5:2 diet. This plan suggests eating normally for five days of the week and then restricting your calorie intake on the other two. They say eating approximately 500 calories for women and 600 calories for men on these two diet days only is enough to lose 1-2 pounds per week, along with reducing biochemical markers for heart disease and diabetes. As long as you are eating well on the other five days this plan will let you lose weight steadily and safely.

Adding exercise

Your ultimate goal should be a healthy body. Therefore you should start to incorporate some exercise into you regime as soon as you feel possible. It doesn’t have to be big. Studies have shown that just a 30 minute walk after eating can aid digestion and help the body metabolize fats and carbohydrates for energy instead of storing them. Once you feel comfortable you can always increase the speed or the distance or start going to the gym. But take baby steps, don’t try too much too quickly particularly if you are not that used to physical exercise. Just get used to a bit more physical exertion with each outing and even if you change your lifestyle slightly to just fit in a few walks each week you are already streets ahead of most dieters.

 

Running Test on a Treadmill

 

Cheating is good

The main reason people give up on dieting is cravings and the wish for a burger, or some chocolate or chips. They have a bad day, come home and gorge on comfort food and then feel bad and that they have wasted their diet. But they haven’t. Almost all dietary advice suggests having a day off once every one or two weeks. Then, even if the diet is hard, you have something to look forward to at the end of the week.

Hopefully, using this advice, you can look for a modest one or two pound loss per week and, even better than that, start to feel better in both body and mind as you become healthy and fitter.

Sure Shot Ways to Losing Weight While Breastfeeding

Your body gained its pregnancy weight for nine whole months and even if you are desperate to look a prim and proper mom, opting for a crash diet will be detrimental for you and your baby’s health. You cannot expect a miraculous drop in your weight and require giving it at least 10 months to 1 year’s time to return to the pre-pregnancy stage. Gradual weight loss with the help of breastfeeding accompanied by a balanced, nutritious diet and exercise can on the other hand be beneficial for you, while ensuring your baby is getting his right proportion of nutrients.

Tips to Losing Weight While Breastfeeding

• Breastfeeding your baby whenever he or she demands is a great way to do away with the calories as demand-fed infants tend to be more frequent with their food timings, thus causing you to lose more too.
• Eat frequent, small meals. If you are getting hunger pangs, never avoid them. If you witness hunger pangs too often, chances are you had carbohydrates which got burned down fast. Therefore, try supplementing some meals or snacks with protein to keep hunger at bay at least for some time.
• Watch out how much saturated or Trans fat you are consuming. Avoid having those pastries and sugary cookies, although occasional treats are permissible. While resorting to low-fat milk instead of whole milk will perfectly suffice for your breast milk supply and weight loss regime, the amount of oil in cooking is also something to keep a tab on.
• Exercises comprising strength training, cardio and stretching will help build up lean muscles which in turn will lead to faster weight loss.
• Once your baby is about 2 months and if you wish to start weaning gradually, start curbing your total calorie intake a day by only 100 calories. It is however, more beneficial, both for you and baby if you can continue breastfeeding up to 6 months of your baby’s age. Whenever you plan to wean, cutting down on your calories slowly is important since your body no longer would need the additional calories to supply milk.

Time Magazine Features Attachment Parenting
http://lightbox.time.com/2012/05/10/parenting/#1

What if there are no significant changes in weight

If however, you do not witness any significant drop in your weight after about 6 to 7 months post pregnancy in spite of breastfeeding and proper diet, it might be because of a medical complication. You can go on a stricter diet and a more intense exercise regime to check whether they work. Whether you lose weight or not, the fact remains your baby got his share of best nutrition that you could provide through your breast milk and thereby obtained a strong foundation.

The Master Cleanse – Lemon Diet

This was a hip when Beyoncé Knowles transformed from her voluptuous figure to a sexier goddess in preparation of her lead role in Dreamgirls.

I have been eyeing in doing this but I am still doubting because this may cause major muscle mass loss due to lack of protein intake in the next few days of the program. Also, I am not yet rooting to shift to a vegan diet since I believe that having a blood type B, my body primarily feeds well on red lean meat, fish, poultry and dairy products. This idea was taken from the book, Eat Right For Your Type: The Official Blood Type Diet.

Most of us tend to think that lemon is acidic – in fact it is! So will it cause acidic stomach? According to Dr. Robert Young:

“Well, isn’t lemon juice acidic too?” It’s actually true that if you took some pH paper and tested lemon juice it would test acid, but once the lemon juice is metabolized in the body, the inherent alkalizing mineral salts contained in the lemon juice (and the bicarbonates that it pulls into the blood during digestion) leaves a residue of alkaline ash in the bloodstream. Also because of their low sugar content, lemons and limes do not ferment in the blood.”

Therefore, lemons remain acidic in content but when metabolized by your body with a neutral pH of water, it has alkalising effect, which is definitely good for you.

Going back, before doing this regimen, make sure that you pay a visit to a doctor because this master cleanse diet or lemon diet is not intended for everyone *inserts disclaimer here*. But if you are really eager to lose weight and perform some toxic-eradication in your body, here are the ingredients:

• 2 tablespoon lemon or lime juice (approximately 1/2 lemon)
• 2 tablespoon genuine maple syrup Grade B (not maple flavored sugar syrup)
• 1/10 cayenne pepper (red pepper) or to taste
• 8 oz. of water in room temperature
• 1 tsp of sea-salt (not the usual rock salt)

It is very important that every morning before you drink the lemon juice drink of up to 25 to 32 ounces of h20 with 1 tsp of sea-salt.  Most of the stuff you needed can be bought in a grocery (for salt, lemons and lime) and the rest at Healthy Options.

[download_box] You can also download this pretty-lengthy-for-a-white-paper that discusses about The Master Cleanse diet.[/download_box]